Rookie Anchor Fired After On-Air Profanity

Microphone picked up swear words on anchor’s debut newscast.

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A.J. Clemente seen here at his on-air debut for local NBC affiliate station KFYR-TV.

A local news rookie anchor was fired after he fumbled his on-air debut Sunday by uttering a pair of unsavory words.

A.J. Clemente of North Dakota's NBC affiliate KFYR was heard mumbling under his breath as he prepared for the evening news program. What he didn't know was that his microphone was on.

A YouTube video of the broadcast has gone viral and in it Clemente can be heard whispering the two swear words at the top of the newscast. He was visibly nervous for the rest of the segment and even tweeted about it afterwards.

Clemente's co-anchor issued an apology at the 10:00 p.m. news hour. The affiliate's news director, Monica Hannan, did the same on the station's Facebook page. But none of the apologies, apparently, helped spare Clemente's job. He tweeted on Monday that he was fired:

Unfortunately KFYRTV has decided to let me go. Thank you to them and everyone in ND for the opportunity and everyone for the support.